ISO 18395:2005 specifies a method for the determination of monoacylglycerols, diacylglycerols and triacylglycerols and also free glycerol by high-performance size-exclusion chromatography. It is applicable to products (e.g. emulsifiers) comprising monoacylglycerols and diacylglycerols as main constituents in concentrations greater than 10 %, and to triacylglycerols in a proportion of less than 20 %.

The method is not applicable to dairy fats or fats and oils having a wide range of fatty acid chain lengths, since diacylglycerols of short fatty acids have a lower molecular mass than monoacylglycerols of long-chain fatty acids.

The method has restricted applicability to acylglycerol mixtures based on caprylic and capric acids. Here, only the monoacylglycerol content and the free glycerol content can be determined.